Former Symbol/Motorola Executive Joins Meru

Meru Networks announced the appointment of Sarosh Vesuna as Vice President of Business Development. He reports to Meru CEO Ihab Abu-Hakima.


Vesuna comes to Meru from Motorola, where he was senior director of strategy and business development for the company's wireless LAN business, overseeing corporate development, partner alliances and strategic direction. He had previously spent 15 years as senior director of strategy and business development at Symbol Technologies (acquired by Motorola in 2007), where he was instrumental in the development of key partnerships with such companies as Nokia, IBM, Cisco, Nortel, HP, Microsoft and Intel.


A co-author of the IEEE 802.11 WLAN protocol, Vesuna also co-founded the Wi-Fi Alliance and served on its board of directors and as treasurer and technical committee chair. He holds five U.S. patents and has an M.S.E.E. degree from the Pennsylvania State University and a B.S.E.E. from the University of Bombay. http://www.merunetworks.com

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AppTrigger Introduces Ignite Application Session Controller 9.0

AppTrigger released version 9.0 of its "Ignite" Application Session Controller (ASC), adding key performance enhancements, including support for Bearer Independent Call Control (BICC) and Media Server Markup Language (MSML). In addition, enhancements made to the Ignite software architecture allows the ASC to easily utilize leading edge server technology and distribute Ignite software across multiple CPUs or servers.




AppTrigger's Ignite ASC ensures "any to any" application connectivity between legacy and next generation networks, as well as competing architectural agendas between vendors. AppTrigger's platform resides between the application layer and the control plane with the purpose of delivering call/session control, signaling, switching and media capabilities to support multiple applications for both new and legacy networks. It provides application-specific call control functions independent of each underlying network, Earlier releases of the platform delivered Intelligent Network -- Service Capability Server (IN-SCS) functionality that enables service providers to bridge the gap by ensuring their existing voice centric IN applications such as pre-paid and voice messaging are able to work within the IMS networks.


Key enhancements in Ignite 9.0 ASC include:

• Bearer Independent Call Control (BICC) - The newly integrated BICC support enables service providers to utilize a single call session protocol for both TDM and RTP while maintaining compatibility with UMTS R4.



• Host Media Processing (HMP) - HMP technology provides media processing on general purpose servers while reducing the dependency on dedicated DSP solutions, particularly on low port densities.



• Media Server Markup Language (MSML) - MSML brings rich IP media resource control. MSML is rapidly becoming the standard of choice for applications that need to control NGN media servers due to the simple and widely accepted language foundation.



• Media Resource Brokering (MRB) -- Presents significant cost savings by providing media resource abstraction across multiple media server platforms, load balancing and fault detection utilizing the ASC's proven session control engine. The Media Resources may be SIP plus MSML which exceeds the definition of MRB as defined by the MultiServices Forum implementation agreement (MSF-IA-SIP.014-FINAL).

AppTrigger is currently deployed in a number of Tier One networks worldwide, including Verizon Wireless, CanTV, O2 and others.http://www.apptrigger.com

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Juniper T1600 to be Deployed in GÉANT2 Network

DANTE, an international research and education network provider, is upgrading the core GÉANT2 infrastructure using Juniper Networks' T1600 platform. The will enable DANTE to deliver a range of new, high-capacity services based on IPv6 and 40 Gbps technologies. The network is being deployed by Imtech Telecom Global, a Juniper Networks Elite partner. Currently deployed in the GÉANT2 network are the Juniper Networks T640 and M120 routers, which run the same, consistent JUNOS software that powers the T1600.


DANTE is responsible for the pan-European GÉANT2 network that interconnects National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) across Europe. GÉANT2 serves over 30 million users in 34 countries. Together with the NRENs it connects, GÉANT2 has links totaling more than 50,000 km in length and its extensive geographical reach interconnects networks in other world regions to enable global research collaboration.http://www.juniper.nethttp://www.geant2.net

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Former Symbol/Motorola Executive Joins Meru

Meru Networks announced the appointment of Sarosh Vesuna as Vice President of Business Development. He reports to Meru CEO Ihab Abu-Hakima.


Vesuna comes to Meru from Motorola, where he was senior director of strategy and business development for the company's wireless LAN business, overseeing corporate development, partner alliances and strategic direction. He had previously spent 15 years as senior director of strategy and business development at Symbol Technologies (acquired by Motorola in 2007), where he was instrumental in the development of key partnerships with such companies as Nokia, IBM, Cisco, Nortel, HP, Microsoft and Intel.


A co-author of the IEEE 802.11 WLAN protocol, Vesuna also co-founded the Wi-Fi Alliance and served on its board of directors and as treasurer and technical committee chair. He holds five U.S. patents and has an M.S.E.E. degree from the Pennsylvania State University and a B.S.E.E. from the University of Bombay. http://www.merunetworks.com

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Cisco Introduces Personal TelePresence System

Cisco expanded its high-definition video conferencing portfolio with a personal TelePresence system for use in individual offices and a large TelePresence room ideal for group training and cross-functional team meetings. The new Cisco TelePresence System 500 and Cisco TelePresence System 3200 join the existing Cisco TelePresence System 1000 and 3000 endpoints.


The Cisco TelePresence System 500 integrates a 37-inch display, camera, an innovative microphone array, speakers and specially-designed lighting in a complete solution that can be placed on a desk, mounted on the wall or stand on a pedestal in a private office. It allows users to participate in virtual meetings as an equal participant, appearing life-size to participants in other Cisco TelePresence rooms. The Cisco TelePresence 500 can also be used as a second monitor in a personal office or as a digital sign through integration with the Cisco Digital Media System video technology for digital signage and desktop video streaming. The Cisco TelePresence System 500 has a list price of $33,900 and availability is expected in Q3.


The Cisco TelePresence System 3200 builds on the success of the six-person Cisco TelePresence System 3000 by tripling the room capacity and augmenting the virtual table with a second row of seating for larger venues. Ideal for headquarters sites or large regional offices, the system allows large teams to meet and collaborate virtually with remote participants when much of the team is in one physical location, or conduct training or classroom applications easily with remote participants or presenters. It features new camera lenses, microphones for back-row participants, and a new codec that supports data sharing at 30 fps. Table configurations are available for either 12 or 18 participants. The Cisco TelePresence 3200 has a list price of $340,000 and availability is expected in Q3.http://www.cisco.com

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Indonesia's Telkomsel Selects Ericsson's Blade-based Mobile Softswitch

Ericsson announced a contract to supply its Mobile Softswitch Solution (MSS) to Indonesia's Telkomsel.

The solution will provide a common core network platform for both GSM and WCDMA technology and boost Telkomsel's network capacity, performance and coverage. The deployment includes the new MSC Server Blade Cluster, which up to 8 million subscribers with only two cabinets. This reduces space requirements by up to 90 percent and energy consumption by up to 60 percent compared with Ericsson's standard MSC-Servers. Financial terms were not disclosed.http://www.ericsson.com

• Earlier this month, Nokia Siemens Networks announced a contract to supply its MSC Server System mobile softswitch solution to Telkomsel.

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Reliance and Alcatel-Lucent form Joint Venture for Managed Services

Reliance Communications, India's largest integrated telecommunications service provider, and Alcatel-Lucent will establish a global joint venture to provide managed services for wireless telcos (both CDMA and GSM). The mission of the Joint Venture would be to facilitate a proactive, quick-to-respond environment to fast-paced and dynamic market conditions to leading telecom service providers. The companies estimate the global market for managed services at US$16 billion.


The first assignment of this joint venture will be to provide Managed services for Reliance Communications nationwide CDMA & GSM networks in India. Specifically, the joint venture will support the expansion and growth of Reliance Communications, within and outside India, bringing predictability of the operations and related expenses, while maintaining the highest standards of customer experience.


"World over, the biggest challenge Telecom operators are facing is to continuously improve competitiveness by reducing operating expenditure and enhancing network quality to provide superior customer experience. The combined expertise and experience of Reliance and Alcatel-Lucent would create an unmatched blend of leadership in technology, innovation, scale of operations and customer service to become the worlds leading Managed Network Services Provider", said Mr. Sandip Biswas, Head - Managed Network, Reliance Communications. "The Joint Venture is a leap forward in Reliance Communications' vision to continuously redefine the benchmarks of customer experience and enhance value for our 2 million shareholders".


"Alcatel-Lucent is committed to help Reliance retain its market leadership role by helping them increase their customer satisfaction and business capitalization by operating and maintaining their networks together with managing complex network projects" said Andy Williams, President of Alcatel-Lucent's Services business. "This partnership confirms our trusted partner relationship with Reliance Communications and reinforces Alcatel-Lucent's position as a strong and competitive managed services provider."


A new legal entity is being formed as part of the joint venture. Alcatel-Lucent will have the operational control of the new entity. Reliance Communications is represented in the Joint Venture through its wholly owned subsidiary.http://www.alcatel-lucent.comhttp://www.reliancecommunications.co.in

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Sprint Nextel Posts Continuing Losses of Subscribers, Revenue

Sprint Nextel reported disappointing Q1 2008 wireless revenue of $8.0 billion, down 9% compared to the year-ago period and down 6% from the fourth quarter of 2007. The declines are mainly due to lower average service revenue per customer and fewer post-paid subscribers. The total number of wireless subscribers declined by 1.09 million due to losses of 1.07 million post-paid subscribers and 543,000 traditional prepaid users, partially offset by gains of 343,000 Boost Unlimited and 183,000 wholesale and affiliate subscribers. Wireline revenues were $1.6 billion, a 2% increase from the first quarter of 2007 and a 1% increase from the fourth quarter. The growth is due to strong demand for IP services that more than offset declines in voice and data


In addition to the recently announced deal with Clearwire, Sprint's turnaround plan includes trimming capital expenditures. Q1-08 core capital spend was $1.12 billion as the company moderated its EVDO rev A expansion.


Some operational highlights:

• Wireless had 52.8 million total subscribers at the end of the period, compared to 53.6 million at the end of the first quarter of 2007. The decline reflects a smaller post-paid and affiliate base, partially offset by increases in prepaid and wholesale.



• At the end of the first quarter, the company was serving 39.7 million post-paid subscribers, 4.4 million prepaid and 8.7 million wholesale and affiliate users.



• Subscribers by network platform include 35.5 million on CDMA, 15.7 million on iDEN and 1.6 million Power Source users who access both platforms.



• In the first quarter, Sprint Nextel introduced Simply Everything service plans for CDMA and iDEN post-paid subscribers. These plans include an offering of unlimited voice, data, direct connect and message services for a fixed monthly fee of $99.99.



• Post-paid churn of 2.45% for the quarter reflects higher voluntary deactivations in the CDMA subscriber base compared to the fourth quarter and a smaller subscriber base. Voluntary churn on the CDMA platform improved over the course of the first quarter. In the first quarter, total involuntary churn improved marginally from the fourth quarter but remained at an elevated level, representing about 40% of total post-paid churn. For the quarter, the overall CDMA churn rate was modestly below the overall post-paid churn rate and iDEN was modestly above.



• Wireless service revenues declined 9% year-over-year and 6% sequentially due to lower average revenue per customer and fewer subscribers. Wholesale and affiliate service revenues were flat with the year-ago period and declined 6% sequentially due to lower pricing, partially offset by a larger base.



• Wireless equipment revenues declined 9% compared to the year-ago period and were down 13% sequentially. The decline compared to the year-ago period is due to lower handset sales volumes, while the sequential decline is mainly due to more aggressive market pricing.



• Average monthly post-paid ARPU in the CDMA base was modestly above the overall rate of a little under $56, while iDEN was modestly below. Compared to the first quarter of 2007, CDMA ARPU declined about $2 and IDEN ARPU was lower by about $6.



• Post-paid ARPU continues to be impacted by customer migrations to lower-priced plans, a higher-than-average ARPU in deactivating subscribers, and increased customer concessions to improve retention. First quarter ARPU was also impacted by lower fee-based revenues and seasonally lower usage.



• Data revenues contributed more than $11.50 to overall post-paid ARPU in the first quarter and more than $14, or approximately one-quarter, of CDMA ARPU. Overall data growth of 19% year-over-year was driven by strong sales of aircards and demand for messaging services.



• Prepaid ARPU in the quarter was approximately $29 compared to $32 in the year-ago period and $28 in the fourth quarter of 2007. The sequential increase reflects growth in the Boost Unlimited subscriber base that is offsetting lower usage among traditional prepaid users.

http://www.sprint.com

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Qualcomm Supports MediaFLO and International ISDB-T Mobile TV Standards

Qualcomm demonstrated the capability to support the MediaFLO and International Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial (International ISDB-T) mobile TV standards on a multi-mode handset. The demonstration used Qualcomm's Universal Broadcast Modem (UBM) chipset, Qualcomm said this technology demonstration illustrates that MediaFLO technology can complement the free-to-air ISDB-T One-Seg standard used in Japan and the ISDB-TB standard used in Brazil to enable a mix of free and paid mobile broadcast content and services to drive consumer adoption and revenue.


"To date, the mobile broadcast deployments in Asia have been successful in driving handset adoption, but so far have not generated a strong return on investment for the mobile TV service providers," said Neville Meijers, senior vice president and general manager of Qualcomm MediaFLO Technologies. "Demonstrating MediaFLO and International ISDB-T standards on a single, multi-mode handset illustrates a clear path for monetizing mobile TV services through a hybrid free / pay TV service offering that leverages the popularity of free TV with the revenue potential of subscription-based content and value added services."
http://www.qualcomm.com

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Tata Expands Global Voice Network with Sonus

Tata Communications will expand its global voice network using gear from Sonus Networks. The network will be made up of the GSX9000 Open Services Switch, PSX Call Routing Server, SGX Signaling Gateway, the Sonus Insight Management System, as well as Sonus' Network Border Switch (NBS) for enhanced security and advanced peering capabilities.


Tata Communications is implementing Sonus' IMX Multimedia Platform for the development of enhanced business applications for its customers. The IMX platform allows for the rapid creation of new voice, video, data and other multimedia applications, as well as the integration of and support for disparate end user devices. The IMX will be employed by Tata Communications in the creation of new enterprise services that blend mobile content, location- based services, and other multimedia functionality.


Tata Communications will work with Sonus' services team to facilitate the migration from its legacy network onto the new IP-based network. Initial deployment cities include Newark, New Jersey; Montreal, Quebec; Toronto, Ontario; Los Angeles, California; London, England; Madrid, Spain; Frankfurt, Germany; and Singapore.


In addition, Tata Communications will deploy Sonus' Network Border Switch to interconnect its disparate voice networks and deliver seamless IP services across geographies.


Tata Communications' customer base includes more than 1,500 global carriers, 600 mobile operators, 10,000 enterprises, over 500,000 broadband and internet subscribers and around 300 Wi-Fi public hotspots. Financial terms were not disclosed.http://www.sonusnet.com

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OpVista Unveils Dense Multi-Carrier Optical Technology

OpVista unveiled a Dense Multi-Carrier (DMC) technology that combines advanced multiple carrier photonics, lambda stabilization and multi-level modulation to deliver 40G and 100G bandwidth per wavelength, while maintaining compatibility with the characteristics of existing 10G networks. The company describes its DMC as an optical breakthrough that will enable existing 10G metro and long-haul networks to scale their capacity to up to eight terabits/sec (8 Tbps) at an economical cost level.


OpVista's DMC introduces significantly superior tolerance to the typical impairments inherent in optical networks, allowing much higher bandwidth to be delivered per wavelength. The technology is an evolution of the Microwave Photonics technology currently implemented in the widely deployed OpVista2000 optical networking system.


OpVista said DMC's simple architecture and reliance on mature, reliable, high-volume 10G optical components delivers scalable capacity and cost-effective deployment of 40G and 100G wavelength networks. This is in contrast to competitive approaches to higher capacity wavelengths that force service providers to make undesirable compromises between network service capacity and distance.


OpVista DMC technology is currently in trials with service providers in the United States and in Europe. A recently-completed trial deployment at United Kingdom service provider, Vtesse Networks, featured the deployment of 40G wavelengths over an existing 860 km 10G engineered network. During the trials, Vtesse deployed a DMC-generated 40G wavelength over an 860 km (534 mile) link on an in-service 10G-engineered optical network.


"DMC technology, which will be incorporated into all of OpVista's future products, is a universal solution for cost-efficiently achieving 40G and 100G across metro to ultra-long-haul networks," said Karl May, Chief Executive Officer, OpVista. "DMC allows service providers to achieve ever-higher levels of bandwidth to enable the delivery of additional services. Critically, DMC's ability to leverage 10G component maturity and scale ensures access to supply and economies of scale that will continue to reduce cost over time."http://www.opvista.com/

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Procera Releases 80 Gbps DPI Platform

Procera Networks introduced its PacketLogic PL10000, a high-performance DPI platform offering up to 80Gbps of throughput and purpose-built for deployments either at the core or edge of Tier-1 broadband networks. Procera, which also offers a range of smaller DPI platforms, is targeting a new type of "evolved DPI" capable of enhancing application awareness with service control capabilities.


The PacketLogic PL10000, which leverages an ATCA chassis and multi-core processors from RMI, offers four times the capacity of its nearest competitor enabling it to scale for millions of broadband subscribers. It also features Procera's own DRDL (Datastream Recognition Definition Language) traffic identification engine that provides increased accuracy for traffic shaping, filtering and statistics.


The PacketLogic PL10000 comes in two chassis sizes; a five-slot, 5U chassis and a 12U, 14-slot chassis. There are four line card types: System Management (SM) module � for systems administration like the user interface, I/O line card (IO) � 8 SFP+ interfaces for GbE/10GbE line-rate packet processing, Flow Processing (FP) module featuring� more than 5Gbps Full Duplex per module, and Load Balancer (LB) module for splitting traffic internally between processors and FP modules. The largest configuration (12) could support up to 5 10Gig channels with up to 5 million users and 48 million flows.


The platform is now shipping with version 12 of PacketLogic¹s firmware. The new features in this release address scalability and viable support
of asymmetric traffic:

• Flow Synchronization --� Enables the exchange of flow information across multiple PacketLogic systems with minimum overhead traffic. This enables bi-directional identification, even with asymmetric traffic, which increases the number of identification criteria and thereby the accuracy. Procera says its Flow Sync generates very low administrative traffic (2 to 6 percent) compared with other architectures (25 to 50 percent).



• Queue Synchronization --� Synchronize queues, meaning shaping rules, over several PacketLogic systems, which enables multiple PacketLogic systems to share shaping rules and enforce them over the entire network. This is critical for large Tier-1 networks that need to incorporate many systems to serve millions of subscribers.



• New Statistics Engine �-- This new engine is hierarchical and aggregates data in several tiers to deliver an instant response, another key requirement in order to identify and resolve issues immediately. If, for example, anomalies are detected, an administrator can dive down to visit the specific traffic details, thus providing scale for millions of subscribers over multiple systems.

The PacketLogic PL10000 already has four service provider customers, including Com Hem, Scandinavia's largest cable operator.http://www.proceranetworks.com/pl10000

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Fixed Wireless Opportunity - Business Only Broadband in Chicago and NYC

	1. Who is Business Only Broadband? 2. The Business Plan 3. Strategic Differentiators for Fixed Wireless 4. How is the Network Physically Deployed? 5. Spectrum Used 6. Is Fixed Wireless a Primary Service or a Back-up Network? 7. The Network Architecture and Equipment Deployed
Rich Kingston, CEO, Business Only Broadband	May 2008
Fact File Founded 2005 Headquarters Chicago Services WiMAN PublicConnectTM WiMAN PrivateConnectTM WiMAN FinanceConnectTM WiMAN CityConnectTM Backbone DragonWave Air Pair 11,18 and 23 GHz FCC licensed radios High Capacity Customer Connections DragonWave Air Pair 11,18 and 23 GHz FCC licensed radios BridgeWave 60 and 80 GHz FCC licensed radios Point to Multi-Point Customer Connections Motorola Canopy 3.6 GHz and 5 GHz license exempt radios Routing Cisco 6524 Metro Ethernet routers Power  48 volt DC battery and rectifier system Bandwidth  1.5 Gbps and up

http://www.bobbroadband.com/

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